Posts Tagged ‘cinnamon’

You caught me: I made hot cross buns at Easter while we were visiting our friends in Arizona but sadly their pantry did not contain icing sugar, so I was forced to skip the “cross” on the buns. They were exceptionally tasty (even without the icing cross), flavoured with warming spices and some rum-soaked currents.

Directions:

Meanwhile, combine the milk, eggs, yeast, brown sugar and whisk to combine. In the large bowl of your stand mixer, combine the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and baking powder, whisk to combine.

Add the softened butter to the flour mixture and mix until the butter is well combined (you may also do this with your fingers). Add the liquid ingredients to the flour mixture and beat until a soft dough has formed (if it is too soft, add a bit more flour to it and beat). Meanwhile, strain the currents and add them to the dough and beat well. This is a very soft and sticky dough.

Place in a well-greased bowl and allow to proof for 1 hour or until doubled in size.

Prepare a large, high sided baking pan by buttering the base and all sides.

When the dough has doubled in size, make about 112 g balls out of them. Place in the prepared pan and allow to rest with a clean cloth covering it for 1 hour.

Pre-heat the oven to 375° F.

Combine the left-over egg white with 15 mL milk and beat well. Brush the tops of the rolls with the mixture. Bake for 20 minutes or until the internal temperature reads 190° F. Allow to cool slightly before serving.

Fresh out of the oven, these pillowy-soft buns are fragrant and delicious.

Notes:

The original recipe called for 50% more currents but I felt it was a little too much so I reduced it.

My dough was quite soft and sticky with the originally called-for flour, so I added a bit more flour.

The original recipe wanted the leftover rum to be incorporated into the dough, but my dough was already too soft and sticky so I skipped it.

This tip from King Arthur flour sounds quite interesting and I will try it next time I make this tasty recipe:
“Want to make these buns a day or so ahead of time? Try the tangzhong technique, a Japanese method for increasing the softness and shelf life of yeast rolls. Begin by measuring out the flour and milk you’ll be using in the recipe. Now take 3 tablespoons of the measured flour and 1/2 cup of the measured milk; put them in a saucepan set over medium-high heat. Cook the mixture, whisking constantly, until it thickens and forms a thick slurry; this will take about 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 minutes. Transfer the cooked mixture to a bowl, let it cool to lukewarm, then combine it with the remaining flour, milk, and other dough ingredients. Proceed with the recipe as directed. Well-wrapped and stored at room temperature, your finished hot cross buns should stay soft and fresh for several days.”

I was invited to a BBQ at the marketing firm I work with and, of course, I couldn’t go empty handed! I spotted Lorraine’s recipe for an apple cake she made for Mr. NQN’s birthday and was immediately intrigued. Everyone loves cake and everyone loves apples (I hope) so I dove in head first and made her lovely cake. I modified the recipe to be gluten free (I didn’t know everyone at the BBQ and wanted to be safe and inclusive) and I used coconut sugar instead of superfine white sugar and increased the apple volume because I bought 5!

Thanks Lorraine for this tasty inspiration.

One of those peeler gizmos would have come in handy.

It’s really more apples than cake.

I made JT a tester.

The Imposter Apple Cake with Salted Coconut Caramel Sauce

For the original recipe on Lorraine Elliot’s beautiful blog, please click here.

Directions:

Line the bottom of a 20 cm (8 inch) round cake pan with parchment and spray generously with non-stick spray.

Prepare a bowl with cold water and 2 tbsp lemon juice, set aside.

Peel the apples and slice very thinly using a mandoline. Immerse the slices into the cold lemony water.

Combine the eggs and sugar and beat until thick. Add the milk and melted butter and beat until well combined.

Sift the flour, cinnamon and salt and add to the wet ingredients. Beat just until combined and lumps are gone.

Drain the sliced apples and dry slightly. Fold the apple slices into the batter to coat well.

Pour into the prepared pan and bake uncovered for 50-55 minutes or when a cake tester comes out clean.

Cool completely before serving.

Top with toasted almonds when serving.

Ingredients for Salted Caramel Sauce

Makes 200 mL (3/4 cup) caramel sauce

90 g (3/4 cup) coconut sugar

1/4 tsp lemon juice

5 mL (1 tsp) water

Good pinch of sea salt

125 mL (1/2 cup) 18% cream

20 g (heaping tablespoon ) butter

Directions:

Heat cream and salt in a microwave proof container until very hot but not boiling, set aside.

Combine coconut sugar, lemon juice and water in a microwave safe container and mix well (I used a 250 mL (2 cup) glass measuring cup).

Microwave sugar mixture for 1-3 minutes in 15-second intervals (45 seconds did it for me) until sugar bubbles up but does NOT BURN, sugar crystals should be completely dissolved and you should begin to see it turn to a darker amber colour.

Remove and set on a dishcloth for 30 seconds or until it reaches the colour of dark caramel.

Slowly pour in the hot milk, being VERY careful as this will bubble up, whisking to incorporate.

Stir well and then add the butter and stir until completely dissolved. Serve warm or at room temperature.

The caramel sauce really makes this dessert.

Notes:

This is not a very sweet cake and therefore, the coconut sugar caramel sauce is perfect for it.

Want to jazz it up even more? Add a dollop of cream fraiche or whipped cream on top.

The original recipe put the almonds on top of the raw batter and bake it altogether, but I found that almonds went soggy after 1 day in the refrigerator so next time I make this tasty cake, I will not add the amonds until I am ready to serve (recipe has been amended with this change).

We had our 15th or 16th (I’ve lost count) progressive dinner recently. It was our turn to host the main course, so we got to choose the theme and we chose Canada’s 150th birthday! This opens up the menu to several options and we all did very well! We began our feast with appetizers at John and Nancy’s, they had a lovely selection of Canadian cheeses with a variety of crackers. We were up next and we chose Tourtière as our main course. We finished the evening off at Tom and Iona’s where we enjoyed a Canadian Touque cake! I wish I had taken a picture of it, but it was dark and we were already into a few bottles of vino! 😉

Tourtière is a traditional Québequois meat pie with as many variations on the recipe as there are families! So, of course, I had to put my own spin on it. But before I get to the recipe, allow me to give you a bit of history that I found interesting (like to learn more? This is a good article).

This was the first test recipe.

Tourtière can be traced back to the 1600’s, served on Christmas Eve as part of a massive réveillon after Christmas Mass, it is time-consuming and expensive to make. Original recipes were made of cubed meat instead of ground meat and usually contained a variety of pork, beef, veal and in some cases, wild game. The uniqueness of Tourtière comes from the spices used to flavour the meat blend, most commonly would be cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, summer savoury, and thyme. Some even added grated potato, bread crumbs or oatmeal to help soak up the liquid. The pastry is always a rich, savoury, buttery pastry in a pie form, or are baked in layers like a lasagna; I chose to make mine a log similar to Beef Wellington. I will say, it was tasty but I doubt I would make it again (unless it was a special request).

The first one looked a little rough.

The first recipe I tried included grated raw potato which was added to the browned meat at the end and stock poured over to help cook it. Both JT and I agreed that it lead to a starchy filling and I decided right then and there that I would not go that route. You do need a little something to absorb some of the flavouring liquid so I chose bread crumbs. For this quantity of meat, some recipes added an entire cup, but I really wanted to avoid that starchy, gummy texture so I reduced both the stock and breadcrumbs significantly and was much happier with the outcome. The other thing I did slightly differently, is I added cooked bacon! It really brought a nice, layer of flavour to the pie without being overly bacon-ie.

The pastry is rather rich and employs a completely different method than regular pastry, the butter is room temperature and is basically rubbed into the flour and then the lightly beaten eggs and water are added at once, using the paddle attachment until just combined. Then it is set into the refrigerator to allow for the butter to set. It is rather odd, but it does work and it does make a very rich pastry that is both delicate but firm enough to hold the heavy meat filling. I decorated the log with maple leafs and then I scored the leaves for effect.

Directions:

Caramelize the onions in the 15 mL (1 tbsp) bacon fat. Near the end, add the garlic and stir until you can smell the aroma (this will cook further, later in the process). Reserve the onions and garlic mixture.

Brown meat in batches using a little bit of the remaining 15 mL of bacon rendering. On the last batch of meat, deglaze the pan with a mixture of the beef stock and Worcestershire sauce.

Turn the heat right down and return all of the meat to the pan, and add the celery and stir well.

Sprinkle the breadcrumbs a little at a time while stirring to achieve a slightly drier texture but be careful, because it can make it mushy and starchy (I used about 20 g of the bread crumbs).

Lightly toast the aromatic spices (nutmeg, cloves, and cinnamon). Mix with salt, pepper and dried thyme and sprinkle evenly onto the meat mixture and stir well. Allow the meat to cool completely and then assemble into the pie crust.

This one turned out very well.

The Savoury Pastry Recipe

Please click here for original recipe. The recipe makes enough for 1 log.

Ingredients:

470 g cake and pastry flour

12 g salt

254 g unsalted butter, room temperature

125 mL cool water

2 eggs

Directions:

Combine flour, salt and smallish chunks of butter in the large bowl of your stand mixer, equipped with the paddle attachment. Mix until the butter is fully incorporated into the flour (should be mealy).

Combine the water and eggs and mix well. Add the water egg mixture to the dough all at once and mix until just incorporated, the dough will be very shaggy.

Transfer the dough without a lot of handling to a smaller bowl and cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours so the butter can set.

Turn the shaggy dough out and bring it together with your hands, flattening and folding the crumbs until it comes together.

Roll as required or wrap and chill or freeze for future use.

May I offer you a slice? Please have some smoked ketchup with it.

Assembly:

Ingredients:

1 egg, lightly beaten

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350° F.

Bring the pastry out of the refrigerator about 15 minutes (or less if it is hot in your kitchen) before you wish to begin rolling. Roll pastry with a little flour on parchment paper.

Roll a rectangle about 30 cm x 40 cm (12″ x 16″) and place the meat mixture into the centre in a long log, leaving space at each end. Fold up the ends and pinch closed and fold up the sides and pinch closed. Cut off excess pastry at the ends, reserve for decoration.

Flip the entire log so that the seam is underneath. Roll the remaining pastry a little thinner than the rectangle and cut out shapes with a cookie cutter (I used a maple leaf).

Lightly brush the pastry with the lightly beaten egg. Decorate with cut outs and then brush the cutouts with the remaining egg.

Bake for 45-50 minutes or until pastry is golden and shiny. Slice into a variety of thicknesses to please all your guests.

When I was down in Florida with my dear friend, Kimberley from University, I mentioned that I had recently baked some killer cinnamon buns and she sighed. She is gluten intolerant but will splurge every couple of years on a Cinnabon with dire results, she explained that it’s never really as good to warrant the pain afterward. That is the precise moment I decided to create a gluten-free cinnamon bun that she would be happy to eat AND digest! This is the result of several tests, I hope you love them as much as we did!

Directions:

Using a fork or pastry blender, cut in the cold butter to distribute evenly (may be done in a food processor).

Sprinkle in the buttermilk and using a fork, bring the pastry together quickly to get a sticky ball of dough. On a lightly floured (with GF flour) board, knead a few times, but not enough to heat up the dough. Pat into a rectangle about 23 x 20 cm (9 inches x 8 inches).

Preheat the oven to 400° F (200° C). See directions for the filling.

Ingredients for the filling:

30 g (2 tbsp) unsalted butter, softened

40 g (2 tbsp) brown sugar

2 tbsp cinnamon

Directions for the filling:

Combine the butter, sugar, cinnamon and mix well.

Spread the filling over the rectangle to all four sides.

Roll up the rectangle into a tight roll. Cut into 6 small rolls.

Place cut sides down into a lightly greased oven proof pan. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until lightly golden. Cool slightly and remove with a spatula to a cooling rack.

Drizzle with a little icing sugar and water mix. Serve warm or at room temperature.

A more biscuit-like pastry, these strongly-flavoured cinnamon rolls heat up beautifully and satisfy a cinnamon roll craving.

Last month we hosted dessert for our fifteenth(?) progressive dinner. Our neighbour, John selected Georgia State as the theme because of the Golf that was going on (what golf?) at that time so food had to be a Georgia favourite or something connected to the PGA. Of course, I went straight to the expert, my dear friend Betsy of Bits and Breadcrumbs for her advice and she really came through for me, Thank you, Betsy. I made three mini desserts, one of which, the Chocolate Pecan Pie is traditionally served at the Open, the other two were Southern favourites, Peach Crumble (recipe below) and Chess Pie, that I really just wanted to make. All of the desserts are miniatures because we always tend to over do it at these progressive dinners and I served them all in the living room at the coffee table, take as many or as few as you wish. I followed some tried and true recipes for the Chocolate Pecan Pie and the Chess Pie (see links above) and I loosely followed Betsy’s recipe for the crumble. Hope you don’t mind, Betsy, I combined a few ingredients from various southern recipes on your blog and I think I scored a hole in one! And that concludes my golfing puns!

So, let me tell you about our dinner! For the first course, Tom and Iona (read Iona) did a bunch of things, we began with an Arnold Palmer (with vodka)! I’d never heard of this concoction before this past February when we were in Arizona visiting friends, it was very tasty! Then, the food: Iona made Pimento Cheese sandwiches (OMG, so GOOD!), jalopeño Poppers (baked) and a wonderful bean and rice dish served in a glass. Then we had the main course, it was Mike Weir’s (Canadian) signature Master’s Dinner (I had no idea the winner can choose the dinner menu!) It was Elk and Arctic char (that’s a fish), with Canadian beer (I had some of his wine!). And, of course, there was dessert! We also set up a little putting green for fun!

Mini Chocolate Pecan Pies and Mini Chess Pies. How many would you have?

The putting green was quite successful!

Bourbon Peach Crumble: Progressive Dinner #15(?)

Makes 4 60 mL (2 oz) ramekins and 4 30 mL (1 oz) ramekins

Ingredients:

2 cups roughly chopped peaches (I used frozen because it is not peach season)

Bourbon, to cover peaches for soaking

2 tbsp flour

1/4 cup sugar (reduce if your peaches are sweet, mine were not)

1/4 tsp cinnamon

2 tbsp soaking bourbon

1 tsp vanilla

pinch of salt

Ingredients for the crumble:

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 tbsp toasted pecan pieces

1/4 cup oats

1 tbsp flour

1/4 tsp cinnamon

2 tbsp unsalted butter

2 tsp Skor® bits

pinch of salt

Directions:

Chop the peaches into wedges and then into thirds so they fit better in the ramekins.

Add the peaches to bowl with a cover, and pour the bourbon over it so it covers all of the peaches, Soak peaches overnight in the fridge.

The next day, strain the liquid from the peaches reserving 30 mL (2 tbsp), reserve the remainder for another use.

Preheat the oven to 175° C (350° F).

Spray the ramekins with non-stick baking spray.

Combine the flour, cinnamon, reserved bourbon from soaking liquid, vanilla and salt and mix well. Sprinkle over the strained peaches and stir well to coat.

Combine the brown sugar, toasted pecans, oats, flour and cinnamon and mix well, cut in the butter until the butter is well mixed. Top each ramekin with about 15 mL (1 tbsp) of the crumble and then sprinkle about 1.5 mL (1/4 tsp) Skor bits over the top.

Notes:

I made 1/2 of this chess pie recipe and I netted about 20 tarts various sizes (although I only show the tear-drop shape in the photo. If I make this again, I’ll make half of the recipe.

I made 1/4 of this pecan pie recipe (I melted 10 g of semi-sweet chocolate, allow to cool, into the recipe) and netted about 14 small tarts (muffin tin-sized).

We added a few tee’s and golf balls but it was too dark for a pic.

This shot is part of a creative collaboration I recently did with a professional photographer and prop stylist for our portfolios. I also served the little bite-sized lemon curd meringues for the progressive dinner just because you can’t have too much dessert! Photograph by Paula Wilson and Props by OK Props, Oksana Slavutych.

This is a naturally sweet applesauce, no added sugar or chemicals, just the beautiful sweetness of the apples!

Since JT and I have embarked on our diet, I have been expanding a recipe collection because there is nothing worse than eating ‘diet food’. JT can attest that our food has been the furthest from ‘diet’, at least, our perception of ‘diet food’. We’ve had:

Chicken Schnitzel with cauliflower mash

Zucchini spaghetti and chicken meatballs

Mushroom and cauliflower crêpes with lentil béchamel sauce

Apple and Dijon glazed pork tenderloin

Pulled pork tenderloin crêpe with homemade BBQ sauce

Navy bean mushroom ‘risotto’

Pacific Salmon with cauliflower dill sauce on wilted spinach

Chicken Tikka Masala on cauliflower ‘rice’

Pork tenderloin on braised red cabbage

Pork tenderloin with mushroom sauce on sautéd veggies

Tilapia en papillote

Bouillabaisse

The real challenge is finding alternatives that fit into the diet parameters so I created this apple preserve (or butter) as a condiment, but also as a sweetener in some of the dishes named above. I try to vary the meals so that we don’t get bored of the same thing.

The other thing that I’m finding quite helpful is weighing everything to make sure we are not having more than we should — I’ve fallen off that bandwagon a few times, so it’s great to get back to it. Measuring is a great tool to keep you on track and it keeps you from inching up the volume (which I can be guilty of)! I measure out 100 g (3.5 oz) portions of any protein we purchase and freeze them individually. I know each baggy is 100 g (3.5 oz) which is exactly the portion size we should be eating. It doesn’t take long to get used to the smaller volumes particularly since we have to drink a lot of water. And the veggies are quite generous (230 g 8 oz per portion), in fact, JT has a difficult time eating the allotted volume of veggies sometimes (I do a lot of wilted spinach…makes for a smaller amount!). Fortunately, we can season to our heart’s content so the food isn’t bland. The other thing about 100 g or 3.5 oz portions is that it makes the budget go further! I’m not going to post a lot more about my regimen but I will share the odd recipe I think you might enjoy. Plus, we have a few cheat days planned (Super Bowl for one!) so I’ll share some of those tasty treats. Thank you for allowing us to indulge in our resolutions, while I enjoy your wonderful recipes from afar, for the time being.

Unsweetened Apple Preserves

A KitchenInspirations Original Recipe

Makes 750 mL (3 cups) preserves.

Ingredients:

1 kg (about 2 lb) red delicious apples, peel and core included*.

1 L (about 4 cups) water

6 cinnamon sticks

10 g (about 3 tbsp) freshly grated ginger

pinch of salt

Directions:

In a medium Dutch oven, add chopped apples, water and cinnamon sticks and cook on medium heat until apples have broken down and thickened and most of the water has evaporated, about xx minutes.

Add freshly grated ginger and pinch of salt, stir well.

Pour into prepared containers and seal with new lids. Store in the freezer. Use refrigerated preserves within a month.

Uses:

Use to sweeten sauces and dressings instead of sugar.

Pour over unsweetened yogurt or ice cream or gelato.

Use as a condiment for pork.

Combine with a little Dijon Mustard as a glaze over pork tenderloin.

*The peel and core add natural pectin to the preserves which help to thicken and preserve it.

Like this:

Recently my sister-in-law and her husband stayed at our place as they had an early morning appointment downtown because they live in another city that is 2 hours away. My brother-in-law cannot eat sugar or white flour and I wanted to create a special breakfast bread that he could eat so I searched and searched the world-wide cookbooks. My general GOTO blog for speciality flour creations is Angie’s Recipes because Angie creates or modifies existing recipes using anything BUT white flour and most of her recipes use natural sugars so it didn’t surprise me when I landed on her version of the Cinnamon Spelt Ring. I loved this recipe because I could experiment with the dough slicing techniques that another friend, Maria at A_boleyn mastered with her Swedish Cinnamon Star Bread. In fact, this beautiful technique has been demonstrated on many blogs and it was about time for me to give it a go. I doubt my family minded being guinea pigs!

This was my first attempt, I made a star bread as well as a rope ring but they were too thin and not bready enough so I revised the recipe and made it again!

I modified the recipe to include whole wheat flour instead of the two types of spelt flour that Angie’s recipe had. As well, I have replaced white sugar with dates for the filling. My first test, although tasted OK, was not up to my expectations, it was just too thin and not bready like a cinnamon bun, so I made it again with a lot more success.

This is the revised recipe below of the unbaked bread. In hindsight, this dough was bready enough to make two loaves!

Directions:

Sift the flours together into the bowl of your stand mixer. Make a well in the centre and add the wet ingredients and mix until well combined. Knead for 10 minutes.

Allow to rise in a warm place for 1 hour and 20 minutes or until doubled in size.

Ingredients for filling:

75 g unsalted butter

100 g dates

6 g ground cinnamon

2 g salt

Directions:

Add all of the filling ingredients into the bowl of a small food processor and process until completely smooth and combined.

Roll out the dough into a 0.5 cm (1/4 inch) thick rectangle (mine worked out to 38 cm x 25 cm (15″ x 10″). Spread all of the cinnamon butter mixture evenly over the dough, leaving a 1 cm (1/2 inch) border on three sides (spread right to the long side that you will begin to roll). Starting at the long end, roll up the dough tightly to form a roll. Seal all of the edges well by pinching them closed. Slice the roll in half lengthwise, leaving the last 5 cm (2 inches) connected.

Turn each half cut-side up and carefully wrap the halves together like a rope, maintaining the cut-sides up to expose the filling. Carefully place on a baking tray lined with parchment paper and allow to rest, covered in a warm location for 1 hour. Check out Angie’s blog for detailed photos on how-to roll, cut and form into a rope. Or check out Maria’s blog on how to make the star version of this gorgeous bread.

Preheat the oven to 375° F (190 °C).

Mix a teaspoon of water into the remaining egg yolk and brush over dough. Bake for about 30-35 minutes or until golden brown and internal temperature is around 200 °F (93°C). You may wish to cover with some foil so it doesn’t brown too quickly.

Serve with home-made jam and butter.

This is the baked loaf, it’s a beauty!

I also wanted to make the rope bread as a savoury cheese version and used my Sesame Bread Recipe; I divided the dough into two equal portions, spread a few handfuls of sharp cheddar on one rectangle instead of the cinnamon butter, and also made a plain cut wheat sheaf version of the other. Both turned out excellent.

The cheese melted in the roll and was a lovely flavour in the egg bread.